An Atomistic-Based Hierarchical Multiscale Examination of Age Hardening in an Al-Cu Alloy

A large class of modern structural alloys derives its strength from precipitation hardening. Precipitates obstruct the motion of dislocations and thereby increase alloy strength. This paper examines the process using an atomistic-based hierarchical multiscale modeling framework. Atomistic modeling i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMetallurgical and materials transactions. A, Physical metallurgy and materials science Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 2625 - 2644
Main Authors Singh, Chandra Veer, Warner, Derek H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston Springer US 01.06.2013
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Aluminum alloys
Applied sciences
Atoms & subatomic particles
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Exact sciences and technology
Materials Science
Mechanical properties
Metallic Materials
Metals. Metallurgy
Microstructure
Nanotechnology
Precipitation hardening
Structural Materials
Surfaces and Interfaces
Thin Films
Precipitate Spacing
Atomistic Simulation
Critical Resolve Shear Stress
Discrete Dislocation
Aging Curve
Age hardening
Aluminium base alloys
Copper alloy
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Summary:A large class of modern structural alloys derives its strength from precipitation hardening. Precipitates obstruct the motion of dislocations and thereby increase alloy strength. This paper examines the process using an atomistic-based hierarchical multiscale modeling framework. Atomistic modeling is employed to (1) compute solute-dislocation interaction energies for input into a semi-analytic solute hardening model and (2) evaluate precipitate strengths for use in dislocation line tension simulations. The precipitate microstructure in the dislocation line tension simulations is obtained from simple analytic precipitation kinetics relations. Fitting only the rate constants in the precipitation kinetics model, the macroscopic strength predictions of the hierarchical multiscale model are found to correspond reasonably well with experiments. By analyzing the potential sources of discrepancy between the model’s macroscopic predictions and experiments, this work illuminates the importance of specific atomic-scale processes and highlights important challenges that remain before truly predictive mechanism-based plasticity modeling can be realized.
ISSN:1073-5623
1543-1940
DOI:10.1007/s11661-013-1614-1